BORN ON THIS DAY IN HORROR HISTORY – MAY 7

1976 – Carrie Henn, her only but memorable film appearance was in James Cameron’s “Aliens” as the brave little girl “Newt.”
1968 – Traci Lords is a former porn star who appeared in the films “Blade,” “The Tommyknockers” the 1988 remake of “Not of This Earth”, “Crazy Eights”, “Devil May Call”, “Excision”, and the upcoming “Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre.”
1949 – The late Marilyn Burns, who made her mark in horror playing “Sally Hardesty” in the original “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” She also appeared in “Eaten Alive”, “Kiss Daddy Goodbye”, “Future-Kill”, “Butcher Boys”, “Texas Chainsaw 3D” and “Sacrament.”
1939 – Writer/director/actor Ruggero Deodato, whose films include “House on the Edge of the Park,” “Cannibal Holocaust” and “Hostel: Part II.”
1931 – Clayton Hill who appeared in “Knightriders,” “Hellraiser III” and as the “escalator” or “sweater zombie” in the orginal “Dawn of the Dead.”
1924 – Albert Band who produced the films “Zarkorr! The Invader,” “Castle Freak” and “Troll.”
1922 – Kolchak himself, the late great Darren McGavin.
1911 – Ishirô Honda, the legendary Japanese director of most of the great Toho Studio’s films including: “Godzilla”, “Rodan”, “The Mysterians”, “The H-Man”, “Mothra”, “King Kong vs. Godzilla”, “Mothra vs. Godzilla”, “Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster”, “Frankenstein Conquers the World”, “The War of the Gargantuas”, “Destroy All Monsters” and many more.
1908 – Animator Hugh Fraiser whose film work includes the TV series “Frankenstein Jr.,” “Shazzan” and the movie “Fantasia.”
1904 – Val Lewton who produced the films “Cat People,” “The Body Snatcher” and “I Walked With a Zombie.”

DIED ON THIS DAY IN HORROR HISTORY – MAY 7

2013 – Ray Harryhausen, the iconic and legendary special effects technician who worked on such stop motion films as “Mighty Joe Young”, “It Came from Beneath the Sea”, “20 Million Miles to Earth”, “Mysterious Island”, “Jason and the Argonauts”, “Clash of the Titans” and many more. He passed away at the age of 92.
2011 – Ross Hagen, a tough guy in many TV shows and B movies such as “Night Creature”, “The Phantom Empire”, “Alienator”, “Dinosaur Island”, “Bikini Drive-In”, “Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfolds” and more. He passed away at 72.
2007 – Nicholas Worth, who appeared in the films “Barb Wire,” “Scream Blacula Scream” and “Blood Dolls,” passed away at the age of 69.
2000 – The legendary Douglas Fairbanks Jr., passed away at the age of 90. He starred in the films “Sinbad The Sailor” and “Ghost Story.”
1993 – Mary Philbin who was famous for unmasking Lon Chaney as “The Phantom of the Opera,” passed away at the age of 89.
1989 – Guy Williams who appeared in the films “I Was a Teenage Werewolf,” and “Captain Sinbad,” as well as playing Professor John Robinson in the TV series “Lost In Space,” passed away at the age of 65.

FILMS RELEASED ON THIS DAY IN HORROR HISTORY – MAY 7

The Black Cat 1934
Taste the Blood of Dracula 1970
Escape From the Planet of the Apes 1971
Gamera Super Monster 1980 a.k.a. Uchu Kaijû Gamera
Dr. Butcher M.D. 1982 filmed in 1979 as Zombi Holocaust
The Amityville Curse 1990
The Mummy 1999
Space Spawns 2002
Gojira 2004 (re-release of the 1954 classic)
Van Helsing 2004